A while back on Twitter, I tweeted about how important it is not to skip meals and how missing meals is actually a form of blocking abundance. As someone born with Venus (love, pleasure, money) in the Fourth House (family, nurturing, food, home) of my birth chart (a personal blueprint or cosmic map), food is a source of wealth to me. Keep in mind that I fully understand that for those who can't afford to eat regularly or suffer from an eating disorder, eating on a healthy and consistent basis is of course out of their control and requires help. However, for those of us who are able to keep up with our meals, we shouldn't take for granted that creating space to eat (as well as the food itself) is a form of physical capital.

As Pluto, the planet associated with power and deep transformation, continues to move through stable and business-oriented Capricorn (which incidentally is also moving through my zone of income and possessions), we are encouraged to review and redefine our wealth. While food and nourishment may seem to fall in Cancer's wheelhouse (Cancer is the sign in charge of the astrological Fourth House), Capricorn has some authority in this realm too as Capricorn shares Cancer's need for security. The only difference being that Cancer, a water sign, craves emotional security while Capricorn seeks it in the material world. And if we can consider land and crops as physical resources (both provide a source of sustenance and security), then our bodies have to be included too. After all, we can't do much if we don't have our health.

Food as wealth (and health) is also symbolized by another planetary transit—Jupiter in Virgo. Jupiter, the planet that represents abundance and good fortune, is currently moving through the sign of Virgo, where it will stay until September 9th. Virgo, an earth sign, is concerned with physical well-being, efficiency, healthy routines, and duty. In Greek myth, from where astrological symbolism is derived, Virgo is connected to the Virgin archetype. The Virgin represents feminine and fertile energy symbolized by earth, tilling the land, growing crops that feed and sustain, and harvesting the bounty of those crops when the work is done. This is also why in medical astrology Virgo is in charge of the digestive system, because here is where the body gets what it needs in order to function and thrive. Through Jupiter in Virgo, we’re learning the importance being more disciplined with our bodies and resources. In this case; how we eat, what we eat, and when we eat it makes all the world of difference as to whether we’re feeling like we’re thriving or not.

It’s this relationship between discipline and eating, or rather work and eating (after all we need to work in order to eat) that got me to thinking about how little we create space to eat (because of work), and how that contributes to lack and depletion. As the landscape of the American workforce continues to shift (thank you, Pluto), bringing with this shift a rise in freelancing, telecommuting, and entrepreneurship; the normal 9-5 job schedule that we’ve become accustomed to is on a steady decline.1 However, with the shadow side of Pluto being connected to the misuse of power—specifically by those already in power, in this case Capricorn seems to also represent big business and its penchant for creating an office culture that leaves employees little work-life balance. How does this tie into food? I asked my followers on Twitter how many of them made a habit of skipping or working through their lunch break because of work. Unsurprisingly, I received a huge response from people, mostly women, who I did this. As a result, they also told me how poorly it affected them (i.e. moodiness, headache, fatigue, etc.) And here’s why I explained to my Twitter followers that eating and eating well is important; if we want to magnetize abundance, we have to be in a place where we already feel abundant, both emotionally and physically, in order to attract more of it to us. Otherwise, we'll find ourselves operating from a place of desperation and lack. And as anyone can tell you, desperation is not sexy.

1. Pudwell, Sam. “The rise of telecommuting: 45 percent of US employees work from home.”BetaNews. September 11, 2015. Accessed March 29, 2016. http://betanews.com/2015/09/11/the-rise-of-telecommuting-45-percent-of-us-employees-work-from-home/

Recently, I received an email from an acquaintance that has been concerned and rather confused about the behavior of a mutual longtime friend. It appears that our friend, who for privacy purposes shall remain anonymous, has dropped off the map; refusing contact with either one of us. While I share concern for our beloved comrade, I decided some time ago (namely after a couple of failed attempts to reconnect) that I wasn't going to go beating down her door anytime soon. Why? I suspect she's going through a major Pluto transit.

Pluto transits to key planets or points in a birth chart can make a person feel as though the very ground itself is being torn out right from under them (largely in solitude--Pluto is a behind the scenes kind of guy). Associated with the zodiac sign of Scorpio and the Eighth House of Sex, Death, and Transformation (add other people's possessions in here too); Plutonian energy roots out whatever "ugliness" we try to repress, deny, or hide about ourselves and draws it out into the open by way of upheaval. Reality gets tested. People around us cease to recognize who we are, the old us, and wonder who we've become. We will wonder if we're losing it, and more than likely we are.

But what exactly are we losing?

Pluto forces us to get rid of what no longer works. Weak, faulty structures that we built up in our lives come crumbling down when The Dark One shows up; a nasty breakup, the loss of a job, disillusionment are all side effects of the Plutonian cure. Working with extremes, Pluto helps to heal us by testing our mettle. We feel as though we are both living and dying at the same time (Folks that have ever befriended or betrothed a Scorpio, probably know just what I mean. Life or death. LOL.). Whatever doesn't survive in the process of this trial by fire period either has served its purpose or wasn't really meant for us in the first place. A Pluto transit isn't solely about losing things but about finding a clearer path to our personal source of power.

Currently, Pluto is transiting through the sign of Capricorn and making a tense aspect with Uranus in Aries. However, both essentially are on the same mission: to put an end to stagnation. People who have major planets or points in their chart between 5 to 10 (update: 12-14) degrees of Cancer, Capricorn, Libra or Aries have been learning how best to work with this energy as they've been feeling it most intensely. Personally, I have had both planets rocking and rolling their way all over my little Mercury in Capricorn which at times has been supremely frustrating (and a little frightening) but has led to improved perception and a shedding of outworn beliefs.

Having already been made familiar with Plutonian energy what I have learned thus far is this: 1) the best way to work with the flow of this transit is to get comfortable with leaving your comfort zone and 2) how important it is to have a space to privately fall apart and then rebuild. With Pluto we come undone, then find the strength to pull ourselves together.